Baba Nonya Silver Buckle, Peranakan

Silver Panel Belt & Buckle

Peranakan Chinese community, Indonesia

Possibly from Palembang or Java, the local peranakan Chinese communities adopted from local court dress this form of belt comprising rectangular panels, hinged together and then finished with a repoussed buckle. Chinese motifs were incorporated providing a syncreatic item. The style spread to the Straits settlements during the early twentieth century.

This example features nine panels repoussed with lozenge and rectangular geometric motifs and a buckle repoussed with a central crane or stork motif surrounded by flowers of the four seasons and Daoist emblems.

Silver panel belts made for the peranakan community are illustrated in Chin, E., Gilding the Phoenix: The Straits Chinese and their Jewellery, The National Museum Singapore, 1991.